What is amniotic fluid?

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Amniotic fluid is the mechanism that protects the baby from getting hurt while inside the mother’s womb. It also helps the lungs of the baby as well as the digestive system to develop. Amniotic fluid also is capable of protecting the baby from infection. It is the water that surrounds the baby while inside the mother.

Amniotic fluid explained

A baby while inside the womb of the mother swallows the amniotic fluid constantly and excretes the fluid in the form of urine. And as such, the level of amniotic fluid inside the baby may vary every day.

Amniotic fluid has a direct relationship with the progress of pregnancy; an expecting mother will experience an increasing amount of the fluid while her pregnancy develops. A mother at the start of pregnancy will have a couple of milliliters of amniotic fluid and will have roughly 800 ml to 1000 ml of said fluid in the 36th week of pregnancy. The level of the amniotic fluid decreases on the 38th week of pregnancy until they are about to give birth.

A mother may have small amniotic fluid, and this condition is referred to as oligohydramnios. On the other hand, having too much of the said fluid is referred to as hydramnios or polyhydramnios.

The doctor may think that a mother has low amniotic fluid if the baby or the stomach of the mother may seem to be smaller in relation to the number of weeks of being pregnant. Medical practitioners take measurements of the belly or the baby bump of the mother during their health check-ups.

Mothers who are suffering from blood pressure problems and lupus are constantly being checked for their amniotic levels.

The level of amniotic fluid can be checked using ultrasound as the sonographer looks at the level of fluid by checking out the entire amniotic sac.

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